Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Grilled Porkchops with Chilled Bean and Tomato Salad

As found in Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine (May/June 2011 Volume 3 Issue 2)
  • 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
    • 1 teaspoon ground pepper, divided
    • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • 2 (15 oz) cans of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
    • 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
    • 2 tablespoons minced celery
    • 2 tablespoons chopped celery leaves
    • 4 (1 inch thick) bone in center-cut pork chops (about 2 1/4 lbs)
    • 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
    1. In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Gradually whisk on oil. Add beans, tomatoes, parsley, celery and celery leaves. Cover and chill 1 hour.
    2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat; coat with nonstick nonflammable cooking spray. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with remaining teaspoon of salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Add pork chops to pan; cook for 4 minutes on each side, or until desired degree of doneness, reducing heat to medium if necessary. Sprinkle pork with italian seasoning. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
    3. Stir bean sala. Spoon onto serving platter, and top with pork chops. Garnish with celery leaves, if desired.

    Tuesday, April 26, 2011

    Engagement Chicken and "Please a Crowd" Salad

    As found in "100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know"

    For Chicken
    • 1 whole chicken (approximately 4 pounds)
    • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, plus 3 whole lemons—including 1 sliced for garnish
    • 1 tablespoon kosher or coarse sea salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
    • Fresh herbs for garnish (4 rosemary sprigs, 4 sage sprigs, 8 thyme sprigs, and 1 bunch fl at-leaf parsley)

    1. Position an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Remove the giblets from the chicken, wash the chicken inside and out with cold water, then let the chicken drain, cavity down, in a colander for 2 minutes.

    2. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place the chicken breast-side down in a medium roasting pan fi tted with a rack and pour the lemon juice all over the chicken, both inside and out. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper inside and out.

    3. Prick 2 whole lemons three times each in three different places with a fork and place them deep inside the cavity. Chicken cavity size may vary, so if one lemon is partly sticking out, that’s fine. (Tip: If the lemons are stiff, roll them on the countertop with your palm before pricking to get the juices flowing.)

    4. Put the chicken in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350°F, and roast, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

    5. Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Using tongs or two wooden spoons, turn the chicken breast- side up. Insert a meat thermometer in the thigh, and return the chicken to the oven and roast for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 180°F and the juices run clear when the thigh is pricked with a fork. Continue roasting if necessary. Keep in mind that cooking times in different ovens vary; roasting a chicken at 350°F takes approximately 18-20 minutes per pound, plus an additional 15 minutes.

    6. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving. And here’s the secret: Pour the juices from the roasting pan on top of the



    For Salad
    • 2 pints red or yellow cherry tomatoes
    • olive oil for drizzling
    • salt and freshly ground pepper
    • leaves from 6 thyme sprigs
    • 1 bag washed baby spinach
    • 3 Belgian endives, thickly sliced
    • 6 ounces blue cheese
    Dressing
    • 1/2 shallot, finely chopped
    • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
    • juice of 1 lemon
    • 1/3 cup olive oil
    1.) Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread tomatoes on rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and thyme toss tomatoes gently to coat
    2.) Roast the tomatoes for 15 minutes, or until almost bursting. (Check carefully during the last 5 minutes to avoid bursting. If any do burst remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon.) Remove from oven and let cool.
    3.) While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, combine the shallot, mustard, and lemon juice, and add a little salt and pepper. Whisk in 1/3 cup olive oil in a slow, steady stream.
    4.) In a salad bowl, combine the spinach, endives and roasted tomatoes. Crumble the cheese over the salad and add mustard-lemon dressing. Toss Gently.

    Wednesday, April 20, 2011

    NYC FOOD



    So this past weekend I went to New York City to visit college roommates with my sister. The food was amazing. The walking of the city was fun. I visited Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx. I went to Bushwick, Williamsburg (which I plan on living in when I AM RICH), Union Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, and even Harlem (So sad to not have run into Bill Clinton). It was very excited & tiring, but I will update with some pictures of our eats.










    Monday, April 4, 2011

    Changing my sleep clock.

    I think I have successfully trained my body to want to go to bed around 11pm. Usually I am tired or relaxing by that time and head to bed, which is great compared to my biological sleep clock wanting to go to bed 1-4am. Not cool, which made it so I had to sleep in til the afternoon.

    Next step: Getting it so I am used to waking up earlier in the morning. Today I set my alarm for 9am. I am used to getting up around 10, so this change wasn't too drastic and I went to be at midnight so I got 9 hours of sleep. I would like to train my body to get up at 7 am. So a couple weeks at 9am. A couple weeks at 8am, and then up at 7am. Especially for the summer, so I can enjoy as much time outside as possible.

    Let's see if it works!!

    Monday, March 28, 2011

    Endorphins.

    Okay, so on a very positive note. I love when you can recognize the difference in your mentality when it comes to exercising almost everyday, and how your mental health decreases when you stop for a few.

    I woke up this morning with no vigor to get out of bed. When I did get out of bed, I was sluggish and grumpy. I am not the most cheerful and happy go lucky person you will meet, I am pretty close to being the exact opposite even with exercise and a good mood. However, when I able to exercise, I am able to get out of bed without really needing to push myself, and I am able to have more control over my anger outbursts.

    I think that this is amazing. You read about it in magazines but when you can actually feel the difference it's like being amidst your own psychology science experiment! Another reason to keep up with the exercise :)

    Cabbage Soup Fail!

    I was not able to finish out my diet this week! I know I know, I am admitting defeat to my long-lasting relationship with food. I am not sure how I feel about the whole "diet".
    I am going to point out a few reasons as to why I felt I disagreed and admit I was weak and failed to fast for a week!

    1. First and Foremost, I only call this a diet because that's what it is postmarked on the internet. I did this for effects of helping myself lose weight (since I hit a plateau) but mainly, I believe that cleansing diets are important for digestive health. I was once told that your body does not allow things to "get stuck" and you do not need cleanses to get healthy. I disagree with that considering valuable organs get clogged with fat and cholesterol all the time, there is no doubt in my mind that digestive organs wont get clogged or have fecal matter stuck in them. I think it's really important to keep up with the health of all your organs and in my mind a cleanse is for the health of your Poop making system!
    2. I strongly disagree with the idea of starvation. I know that a lot of people cut calories to lose weight, but your body at resting state requires around 1200 to function without even adding in the extra of exercise. When you cut below that, your body has nothing to keep sustaining itself and it causes you to start storing things as fat, etc. I decided with the lack of serious calories.... I shouldn't exercise like crazy so my body wouldn't get confused and start storing things that it shouldn't as fat! So I lacked exercise which was not helping me out mentally.
    3. It's very hard to do this diet when your partner in crime is very dramatic and feels like the lack of foods is causing them to die. Lack of food causes you to be already slightly moody and to have to deal with dramatics of someone constantly saying they are going to faint/have a headache/ can't go on.... not a fun time!
    That's just my opinion. Overall, I thought it was great, and I also think I was able to to eat a lot of calories even if it was just fruits/vegetables... you just gotta make sure you keep eating. However, it is also supposed to be a mini fast. And like I said, I don't believe that has good effects on your body!

    Saturday, March 26, 2011

    Day #2 of Cabbage Soup Diet!

    Well, today is day two. I can eat as many raw, fresh, or cooked (with no additives) vegetables as I want as well as, as much cabbage soup.

    I woke up at 10am, and drank my usual 2 cups of coffee with creamer and splenda. After this I chopped up some fresh Cauliflower and I've been munching on it for the past 30 minutes. I thought today would be easier, but I am not a professional at eating a lot of vegetables without additives, but I am also not complaining. Fresh/raw vegetables are great for you. I used to eat them straight out of the garden as a kid. I'm just not used to it today.

    I did not focus on the meditation part of this diet yesterday and hope to do more of that today. In an hour or so I will eat my first bowl of cabbage soup.

    As for the bathroom diaries, nothing crazy has happened at all, so this either means I eat enough fiber in a day normally or.... I don't know what else! More later.

    Okay, So now it is 2:20pm. I haven't been as hungry for food today as I was yesterday but I've also been constantly sipping on my favorite tea, Tazo (Wild Sweet Orange) pictures to the left of this. Yummy! Still no crazy poop stories, which is leading me to believe that when we froze the soup it may have taken some of the qualities from it (The soup was made a week ago but because I had some many appointments and errands I didn't want to have to poop like crazy while I had these) or my digestive health is crazy tolerant of things that are supposed to make you go poo! Hahaha. I've so far eaten one bowl of soup and the cauliflower I mentioned earlier this post. So, I'm doing pretty well. I think I may eat a salad of spinach and cucumbers and peppers just because we bought a mass quantity of fresh vegetables and I don't want them to go to waste. I googled it and you're allowed to have 1 tablespoon oil and one tablespoon vinegar for the entire day. So I could break it up and do teaspoon and a half of each and eat two salads today and two tomorrow?? Oh and for dinner I get to look forward to a baked potato... AND MORE SOUP. Hahaha! The voyage continues.